In Gelsenkirchen, unknown people broke into a bank and stole millions of dollars in money and valuables from customer lockers. The perpetrators are on the run, the police are investigating and customers are worried about their savings. How did the perpetrators get into the vault? How much damage is there? And will those affected get their money back? What we know about the break-in in Gelsenkirchen.
What happened in Gelsenkirchen?
Burglars broke into the vault of a savings bank in Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia and emptied more than 3,000 customer lockers containing money, jewelry and gold. According to the bank, the break-in in the Buer district occurred over Christmas. He was discovered by a fire alarm received by the fire department early Monday morning around 4 a.m. While searching for a possible fire, the emergency services came across signs of a break-in.
The perpetrators took possession According to police reports Access to the bank from a parking garage. They reached an archive room through several doors, through whose wall they drilled a hole into the vault using a special drill. It was an industrial drill, according to a spokesman police told TIME. The perpetrators later escaped through the hole with their loot.
As the police also announced, there had already been a fire alarm in the bank building on Saturday. The police and fire brigade “couldn’t find anything that suggested any damage,” according to a statement.
How much damage is there?
It is probably one of the largest burglary coups in German criminal history. The value of the loot was initially given as the insured sum of around 30 million euros, but could also be significantly higher. “We are assuming a mid-double-digit million amount,” a police spokesman told ZEIT.
How much cash, gold and valuables the perpetrators stole remains to be determined. According to police, it could take weeks until the exact amount of damage is determined. Because the banks don’t know what is stored in the safe deposit boxes. In order to clarify this, those affected must now be contacted.
What is known about the perpetrators?
The investigators are now pursuing a specific lead: Witnesses have given information about several men who were seen with large bags in the stairwell of an adjacent parking garage on the night from Saturday to Sunday, the police said. Video cameras in the parking garage captured a high-powered black car early Monday morning with several masked people sitting in it. According to the police, the car’s license plate had previously been stolen in Hanover.
The break-in was “very professional,” a police spokesman told the AFP news agency. “There must have been a lot of prior knowledge or a lot of criminal energy behind it in order to plan it like that and then carry it out.”
How many customers are affected?
Almost all of the bank’s 3,250 lockers were broken into, affecting more than 2,500 customers. Those affected should contact the bank directly, the police said. It is not necessary for individual victims to report to the police themselves.
The savings bank asked on their website not to come to the branch. “We are currently clarifying with the insurance company how the damage can be processed in the most customer-friendly way possible. We will inform all affected customers about this,” it says. Due to the “massive structural damage,” those affected cannot currently access the area.
On Monday and Tuesday, numerous angry people gathered in front of the branch and demanded information. According to a dpa reporter, more than 200 people were on site on Tuesday. They demanded entry with chants. The situation threatened to escalate; several people got past employees of a security company into the anteroom of the savings bank; Bank employees were threatened. The police then secured the entrance.
Are the lockers insured?
The savings bank said the contents of the lockers were insured up to an amount of 10,300 euros each. If necessary, further insurance benefits are possible through the household contents insurance of those affected. However, insurance companies needed inventory lists and evidence.
A report from Cologne City-Anzeiger According to several of those affected, their losses sometimes exceeded the insured value of the respective safe deposit box in the bank.
Have there been similar coups in the past?
Burglaries like the one in Gelsenkirchen there are only rarely. But it is not the first time that burglars have broken into customer lockers in a bank and escaped with millions in loot.
In December 2024, burglars broke into more than 300 lockers at a Deutsche Bank branch in Lübeck and stole jewelry, valuables, personal documents and cash worth a total of more than 18 million euros. A year later, the bank paid out more than seven million euros to those affected. The investigation is ongoing.
In August 2021, unknown perpetrators cleared out around 650 lockers at the Hamburger Sparkasse in Norderstedt. They got into the vault using a core drill from specially rented rooms above the branch. Money, gold, jewelry and many other valuables worth tens of millions were stolen. There is a dispute in court about how much the savings bank has to pay those affected. The contractually agreed amount was a maximum of 40,000 euros each.
In January 2013, burglars broke into a Volksbank branch in the Steglitz district of Berlin through a 45-meter-long tunnel, broke open around 300 lockers and disappeared with around ten million euros in loot. The crime was planned long in advance: According to the police, the perpetrators, who are still unknown, had been digging the passage for months. At the time, the bank refused to fully compensate the victims.
With material from the news agencies dpa and AFP
